Watch this before you buy a wind generator, My personal experience, and what to look for

[@veggitarianredneck]

Catch me live every Sunday @5:00 mountain time

[@iss9875]

Where I live there is almost no wind. So I decided to grab it and spin it by hand while watching TV. At least I am not wasting my time!

[@veggitarianredneck]

Lol

[@AntinutellasFC]

LMAO

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

So technically it DOES work...😊

[@procktendayimapira2459]

Yah

[@georgedoherty962]

Kenny, I was a moderator on Navitron for over 12 years and we got more complaints about Ista breeze than any other lump They were a joke. I remember them starting off in Turkey and our members buying these pieces of junk with only one bearing on tbe front. We has some good laughs but you Kenny are doing yourself no favours pushing ista breeze. Xmork and Yenzhou Shenzhou are excellent Chinese 2kw lumps. I have been flying Yenzhou Shenzhou since 2005 and the same 2kw x 120vdc model since 2008 24/7. As for AirX, They are pretty toys, I have tbe Marine model with silly point blades on a box in my shed for years. Try a 2kw x 48volt Xmork Kenny. Tbe furling mechanism is brilliant and very safe.., , Fieldlines are a very good forum. Good luck.

[@nhikoid]

Re istabreeze, surely they've improved a lot since startup 12 yrs back. My i1500 runs really well. Toysforwatts the gets great results too. Interesting that you mention exmoor. These look like really nice machines. Very conservative ratings with heavy generators, simple fueling. Cant see any reviews though?

[@obstinatejack]

He’s got a China bashing agenda, so just, meh

[@druwayu]

Its funny because I figured out how to make one without modifying much at all when I was a kid. I noticed when i took one of my toy cars that had those cheap little battery powered motors that if i pushed it manually across the floor, the lights came on. One of those small DC 1.5-3V motors. So I started experimenting and I took a couple of them apart and hooked the lights to the wires direct tot he motor and manually spun them and got the light to come on. So later on I went to an old radio shack and got some larger propeller blades, grilled out their center and glued the gear part to it and took it outside on a windy day which made the lights come on. I decided to try using several of the motors and did the same thing and got help from my friend's dad to make an amplification coil, a battery to store the electricity and the lights, as well as an on/off switch. Brought it to school as a science project and got an A+. Later I took an old home fan on the same principle and created an array of those. Had the same guy help me see if I could use that all to create safe lighting for a little club house in the back yard. Had it running for a couple years. Then "someone complained" about it despite the person being a licensed electrician and reps from the power company more or less ordered it be dismantled or face some hefty bogus fines. That's when I got my first introduction to the grid scam.

[@Patriot-os7br]

Welcome to reality. Off grid stuff has been stifled ,this platform is no longer the place to post innovations or knowledge, it has been sold out! And we the people are getting dudded again.

[@FrancisdeBriey]

I agree 150% ! Wind turbines are very marketable because most of people are not engineers and dream of harnessing wind which "seems" so full of power and therefore provide a lot of energy .As you point out, the power output is the SQUARE of the diameter, and for this reason high power is achievable only with big diameters ! And this requires also to be exposed to strong wind which means you need to put your turbines quite "high" in the air. For all these reasons your little 300-800 USD chinese turbine at 3m at the end of your property will produce ... 30W, 50W max ?... and not the Watts anounced, which refers to peak power under a storm !

[@Refertech101]

for 1kw at high wind it starts at 2 grand!

[@albertbrown7694]

A client came to my desiring to build and market VWT placed next to an interstate. My calc's showed peak power at 0.1kw. Total accumulated power after a year wouldn't pay for installation, not every 1/100th of installation cost. He built one and tested it. And sure enough before we had to take it down it had produced at least a dimes worth of juice, after 3 months.

[@waynesmith3318]

Thanks, your video just saved me a lot of time and money. I am retired and make knives. A couple of years ago I got interested in solar. So I built a system consisting of 13 Ecoworthy 100 amp 12 volt panels in parallel with a Chinese wind generator. I decided to keep it simple and use two Ecoworthy 60 amp controllers along with a Rock controler for the wind generator all wired to a bus bar which goes to the battery bank. Everything worked well until I replaced my sealed led acid batteries with 5 100 ah hr lithium iron phosphate batteries wired in parallel. I have removed the wind generator from the system. Your video told me a couple of things I didn't know. One is how little the wind generator is contributing to my system. And the second thing I didn't know was how battery bank size affects charging difficulty. Thank you. Now after making a second twin system which is almost done I can go back to making knives. By way of thanks you have a full time subscriber.

[@WhatDadIsUpTo]

I have built VAWTs for over 50 years and they meet all my expectations. They all compress air, which I store and use for power when I need it.

[@Themachinewon]

I'm currently working on my Tesup vertical and trying to find a inverter for grid tie, without batteries... I'm leaning towards Aurora PVI 6000

[@TheMrTape]

@@Themachinewon Just a heads up, Tesup is a trash company and brand; be very vary of them and their product, check everything. For one, their wind charge controller is the worst shit I've ever seen; super thin wiring for 5kw... Did you see their Trustpilot? Boycutted them over that, very far out practices. Loctite all little screws or their trash will disintegrate; even then it's probably still likely. Check the Growatt MIC series for your application though... MIC 2000TL-X or below for 50v start voltage. I'm sorry to shit on your turbine, but I wanted to tell the objective truth. Tesup might be the right choice for the right person, who knows how to do a thorough quality inspection of every little component, and how to fix the shortcomings and issues that will present themselves, but for anyone else it's definitely not.

[@Grazysailor]

would you tell me how you store your electrcity

[@peterlyle4967]

@@TheMrTape ❤❤

[@LongWalkerActual]

You store compressed air for power?

[@petset77]

You make a lot of good points that many people don't consider. Adding a couple more points, 1- density of air at the location is a factor. If someone lives in the Rocky mountains like I do, the air is considerably thinner than at sea level, so molecules of air passing the blades aren't as dense, thus have less energy. Number two is something I might be mistaken on if standards have changed since I researched turbines... rated power. A decade ago, the rated output was standardized at something like 24 or 26mph wind speed. Very few locations have sustained winds that high. Some sellers have a chart showing theoretical output at different wind speed, and a more reasonable 14-15mph wind offers less than half of posted rating. No one will be happy with that without doing some research. Most of the 400-500w generators are useless in the most ideal conditions. ...I have one, made in the USA. It just doesn't charge batteries unless it's howling out there. Live and learn. If someone thinks they need 500w to do what they want, they will need perhaps a 2,000w generator, costing quite a bit more than they were prepared for (plus higher costs for peripheral items in the build). Anyway, thanks for your video. Well done.

[@veggitarianredneck]

It takes experience to learn some of these things. I can usually tell on the comments the ones who never lived off grid.I live in a community with literally 100s of others like yourself that live off grid and they echo the same sentiments.

[@maxmustermann9587]

As almost always only the physical efficiency of single turbines is compared. But in reality horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs) seldom stand alone and there is quite a radius around a HAWT where no other HAWT can be placed because of turbulences created by it. With vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) this radius is much smaller. But not only can VAWTs be placed much more closely also their energy output can be increased by using these turbulences when the VAWTs are placed according to main wind direction and speed. Stanford did a field test on it [ kzbin.info/www/bejne/a2fbiGVraJqimLs ] [ m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKqynqqcfZp6rqM ] The energy output per squaremile seldom gets discussed. Another aspect, the monetary efficiency, is also not looked at. Slow running VAWTs are less stressed and technically less complex and therefore much cheaper. Since VAWTs can be placed at lower altitudes the requitements for the subsoil and foundation are far lower which makes for additional cost reduction. Sad part: Right now industry is making good money with HAWTs. Therefore there is no interest in changing production and not much money is invested in researching VAWTs.

[@davefroman4700]

Excuse me but there is a flaw in your theory. The colder air becomes, the more dense it is as well. You would be shocked by how many turbines operate on top of mountain ranges.

[@samsonnyashanu]

😊😊😊

[@elmerwaltermeyer8340]

If you live in the Rocky Mountains you ought to be perfect for a windmill. Because I live in the valley I have to put mine on the pole. If you live in the mountains up on the hill you don't even need a pole.

[@keithw8286]

VAWT are about 40% efficient (a good one), whereas HAWT are about 60% efficient. However, on a VAWT, you can mount two sets of blades, set up to turn in opposite direction. One set rotates a tube, the other a shaft within the tube. The stator actually rotates in the opposite direction to the shaft, effectively doubling the speed of the generator. Another advantage is all the heavy equipment is at ground, so access is easy and the structure can be lighter. This approach is being trialled on offshore installations, whether it can work as well for off grid use remains to be seen

[@veggitarianredneck]

I am definitely going to explore the VAWT more in the future, I think the cheap knock offs have perhaps given these things a bad name as much as anything

[@rapidraga]

It might be worth watching what Harmony Turbines is doing and just to be clear, I have nothing to do with this company whatsoever. Nearly everything you say about HAWT is called into question by this crowd and a lot of what they say makes absolute sense to me at any rate.

[@thomassutrina7469]

I read many of the NASA VAWT documents of the 70s, they stopped research. I would venture to say for commercial turbines the life time cost of VAWT is lower than HAWT. So why did NASA stop and no commercial company are selling VAWT farms. I don't count those trying to raise money and at best have proof of concept. VAWT is over a half century old well past proof stage. These are for cost v robustness and testing control. I am amazed. You're not alone, in not shouting out why NASA stopped, lack of a robust means of control. Energy in the wind is a 3rd power of wind speed. Locking down is the only means NASA employed when the fixed frontal area and fixed blades were harvesting more energy than the generator could handle. Drag clutch/brake was their only means of control which they used to achieve lockdown. At the time speed set frequency so excitement current matched turbine to generator.

[@faithchebet4351]

I think you have properly explain the VAWT that's good and what if you can also explain HAWT so that we can compare

[@johnwyman6126]

The problem with VAWT is its height. The closer that you get to the ground, the wind gets much slower and much, much less powerful.

[@allanpatterson7653]

Lift versus Drag. I have built very small windmills. One horizontal model made enough power to light LEDS on the tail to point out wind direction. To get usable power you need altitude and size.

[@CeruleanTalon]

In the process of buying a home in Alabama. The utility company has charges against you using solar panels so that you are actually paying full price, but using almost none of their electricity. I realize it will not be an instant thing, but we want to go as far off grid as we possibly can and discovering your channel is helping us. Thank you!!

[@mariohaberle6147]

What options are you thinking about? Because I'm looking for a solution for my off-shore cabin on an island with low/never existing electricity...

[@michaelward402]

Very good video. I find it amazing that people go out and buy junk, just based on the lure of advertising rhetoric and don't watch videos like this before they even think of spending any money at all. My answer to them is to buy an anemometer that records wind speeds/data logger, that itself costs less the $40. Check how often wind speeds near you are fast enough and how often they blow, before even contemplating buying any wind generator.

[@veggitarianredneck]

Good advice

[@raymondpetersen3543]

That is the best thing I have read on here.

[@Walter-ts1vu]

Thanks for sharing

[@bobkoure]

Back in the 70s I built a Savonius turbine (vertical axis) out of plywood, pipes, sections of a couple of 50gal plastic fruit-juice barrels, power take-off via pulley, belt, and an automotive generator I got from the junkyard. Generators were a bit uncommon then as cars had mostly switched to alternators - but I wanted low speed performance. It didn't generate a lot of power (enough for 12VDC lights in the barn) - but it cost me well under $30 (70s dollars). I now know that I should have attempted a Darius turbine. The Savonius was, essentially, 'scoops' that wind could push against. The Darius is quite different: it has wings on struts, much more efficient. These days, of course, solar is the easiest choice.

[@penguinvic9892]

Your account is fascinating, even for an electrical Neolithic person like myself. Back in 1980, on a rural off grid property that I stayed at, was an old fairly small disused wind pump / wind mill. A friend got the blades of this to spin in the wind, attached a small generator to it, ran wires to the rural shack to a couple of old car batteries, that were kept active by trickle charge (when the wind blew). It was all done out of spare parts, cost negligible. Now this only powered a somewhat functional but gloomy indoor light system, and a 12 v B&W TV. We had a mini sound system, too (from memory). The thing is we never ran out of power. There were rules, of course. Lights were never left on and merely for navigation purposes on dark nights. Reading was by candlelight. The other equipment was non electrical. A small portable gas stove. A small potbelly stove in the lounge room, which was surprisingly efficient. Cold water from an outside tank. A wood fired hot water system in an outside bathroom / laundry. I thought it was all quite comfortable but my partner at the time thought it was the height of primitive and complained endlessly.

[@davidmorris-jones210]

I bought a 325 watt wind turbine & installed it on my top floor 12 story apartment balcony to subsidise my solar panels. I was quite impressed to see around 12 amps being generated 15 volt max. It is capable of a bit more upto 15-16 amps. I am a Ham Radio operator & do know how to measure correctly. It was not expensive either. Only £149.95. It works for me.

[@veggitarianredneck]

What brand was it?

[@davidmorris-jones210]

@@veggitarianredneck Sorry but there is absolutely no brand name either on the turbine or the manual. All I can say is that it has 5 blades instead of 3. The manual says horizontal axis wind turbine. On the converter unit it has a voltage break, generating & battery LED & is black in colour. I saw the same charge unit on ebay sold separately for £60 rated 400 watts & also does something to the magnetic field to physically slow the turbine down in excessive winds. Late Xmas day we had strong winds & it end stopped my 10 amp analog amp meter.

[@veggitarianredneck]

@@davidmorris-jones210 The channel toys for watts has purchased and reviewed alot of Chinese no name turbines and has found a few good ones. Problem is there's no repeatability if one was to purchase another. INW there's no way to tell if you get a good one or not. Sounds like you have a good one

[@paulplack490]

@@davidmorris-jones210 The braking in high winds is done by literally shorting the output of the alternator, which sounds bad, but the turbine can't generate enough current to damage its own wiring so it works fine. It's simpler and less trouble-prone than a mechanical brake.

[@davidmorris-jones210]

@@paulplack490 Yeah Paul I come to the same conclusion but I thought perhaps a low value a few ohms reasonable high wattage resistor would be involved. If I also switch off the battery supply to the charge unit I can hear the turbine slightly shudder as it slows.

[@shadyss96]

I know this is old, but the general appeal is 24/7 operational ability over solar. I live in a pretty windy area so the thought of one of these with a smaller battery seemed like a neat way to learn about renewables. However as I get into this rabbit hole I'm learning wind is a terrible way to go from a maintenance perspective, let alone the all the issues you just touched on!

[@Xandrosi]

My critical use case here in New Orleans is the ability to handle hurricane-force winds as well as normal wind speeds. Resiliency to hail would be next. To your point, battery storage is the next most critical consideration. Until there's a real breakthrough in battery technology, this kind of solution is hard to consider.

[@veggitarianredneck]

Well batteries are just so expensive still. In my situation it's necessary. But maybe you cam grid tie and thus use the grid like a big battery. Might at least consider a small battery system for backup in the event.

[@Xandrosi]

@@veggitarianredneck Batteries are absolutely necessary here in New Orleans. And the utility company is fighting against taking on excess.

[@Cyrribrae]

Huh. I've already decided that wind doesn't make sense at this point at my house (hope it keeps getting better), but really appreciate the discussion here and the way you're approaching it. Much more useful than a lot of the videos online (and their armies of comments from people who have no idea what they're talking about but SURE they understand all the physics).

[@RoisinSlater]

I'm looking at getting off grid. I have a cleared location close to a lake with high winds and a one story cabin. I was reviewing the choices and don't need planning as my home is central on the land without and trees etc and the wind blasts me from two sides. I'm not an electrician so thus was helpful.

[@ToysforWatts]

Hey thanks for the shoutout! Everyone is more than happy to ask me about the cheap Chinese turbines but I've mostly given up on them...I can order 5 identical turbines and 5 completely different results. I've had some awesome examples and some terrible ones that all looked the same on the outside but had different stators and magnets. That you can't tell what you're getting BEFORE you get it makes it too bothersome. iSta Breeze gets pretty much all of my turbine business now...China makes other neat trinkets but when I go back to them for another turbine it's probably going to be for a "big" one :D

[@MrSummitville]

When the wind speed doubles, it contains 8 times the energy. BUT ... spinning a wind turbine twice as fast, only generates 4 times as much energy. Wind Power increases by the cube of wind speed, but a Wind Turbine's output only increases by the square of the wind speed. If you understand TSR, then you will understand why this must be ...

[@Natedoc808]

As well as the entropy of the system going up as the CEMF at the discharge side of the transformer occurs.

[@cj548]

Yes. 'Inverse square law of light' proves the moon is only about 3,000 miles away. And stars are not in ""outer space"" or far away at all

[@richardservatius5405]

the major draw to ANY wind generator is they operate when there is wind no matter the availability of sunshine..i.e. my area gets almost no sunshine during the winter.

[@josephlieberman3027]

One thing that lingers in my memory about the AirX is that the neat looking aerodynamic housing was not designed to account for ingress of moisture and that any water should have a way to flow out resulting in unnecessary rusting corrosion and premature failure, now perhaps they have dealt with this issue since my experiences were over ten years ago. I can recommend from much experience the PMA (permanent magnet alternator) type of wind generator such as are built by Hydrogenappliances i have encountered a good number of people who used them on boats or high locations for back up power of telecommunication repeater transceivers, many instances of extremely high winds and the small units put out easily 40+amps of current. i also personally installed one in the Philippines which continues to function even after several strong hurricanes over the years. basically there is an aray of options for wind energy and the off grid use but its up to the user to be his own engineer so to speak. extra coats of marine varnish on the stator coils and even magnets can help prolong their life by protecting from various weather extremes.

[@Windturbinebod]

Similar to the old expensive Maritime Sailboat Rutland. But they state this on Spec so it's ok. I Recall your channel 15+ years ago when I was also into these. Good to hear the True results TY.

[@Milkybar3320011]

Brilliant, the amount of online junk and scammers then I see your video and have two real options to look at. Thank you

[@davidpotter9462]

I found a wind generator that I like. I'm ordering the Hurricane Vector diy wind generator kit after ten days. 24 volts, 1kw. I don't have a controller yet. I guess I will have to save up for that too. My twenty thirsty batteries will suck up every extra watt. Like pushing a herd of cows back off the fence. Lot of resistance.

[@veggitarianredneck]

Lol, let me know how the new wind turbine works for you.

[@CrapE_DM]

Yes, the horizontal generators are what is used in wind farms, but that's because they can build them to be used in ideal situations: very high up with high wind speeds and more laminar flow. When the highest you're willing to go is the top of your roof, and you live somewhere that DOES create a lot of turbulence, vertical ones are better. You might still get higher outputs from a HAWT, but you'll get more consistent output from a VAWT. They're easier to do maintenance work on because you can keep the actual generator closer to you and they're build is generally simpler, since there's only one point of rotation. They're also easier to make safe. A light metal mesh "fence" around it is enough to keep kids and birds away. Lastly, it doesn't matter what kind or turbine you get, the rated power output is under ideal, high-speed conditions.

[@donaldkasper8346]

Vertical generators are just inherently safer. Horizontal spinning blades have to get high up away from people. It would also appear the vertical generators chop up less birds.

[@sintaklaas6427]

Thank you for good content, from Palermo, Sicily

[@kenhoward-h9e]

My Sunforce 750 watt hawt is rated at 12 volt, 25amp, at 25mph wind. I have it on my 48 foot boat and it will put out continuous 25 amps when the wind is blowing 25mph. It starts charging at 5mph but only puts out 2amps. at 10mph it puts out 10 amps. After 10 it puts out at par amps to mph. to 27 mph. when the brake engages. The rotor diameter is 56 inchs, it comes with a mppt. controller and all the bolts & bearings to rebuild it after 5 years I have had mine for over 10 years and haven't needed to rebuild mine yet, and it's on 90% of the time. When you order it you have a choice of 12 or 24 volt system and high or low wind speed, I picked low.

[@davidpotter9462]

I already have a solar system with 20 marine batteries and 1200 watts of panels. I'm adding a home baked wind charger using a 90 volts half horse DC motor. It says the amps are 5.5. When I put a cord around the 3 inch pulley and pulled, I got 79 volts three times in a row. So I figure it can make 400 watts maybe. I live almost at the top of a hill on the South side. I have a 3 foot aluminum propeller off of an industrial fan, high speed. I may try it on the motor, just to see if it will turn it. If not I will have to build a blade. I don't trust any of the wind generator products yet. There are too many people that say they don't get any power out of them. I think I can get this one to work. My uncle gave it to me to make a wind generator out of. I need to watch the video about making the pole. Well it's a start at least.

[@tracysellman1562]

So far I have found one Sweedish company that has been making VWAT that is Certified (Which is a big thing for me) that has been making VWAT turbines for over 15-20 years "Icewind" the smaller of their two is about $3,200.00 USD or the bigger one that is about $5,800.00 USD. You may want to look into it. But good Video thanks.

[@stephensim5839]

I am using one of those upright types, I think its meant to be 400w, It works ok for our situation. The batteries are much better in the morning than they used to be. The Horizontal types need to be up so high to work otherwise they are stopping and starting all the time. Mine is at 6m and in our area we are getting usable power from it. It's nowhere near as good as solar panels but the overnight drain we were having issues with is much better. I paid $60 AUD second hand.

[@Greebstreebling]

Thanks for your thoughts on this stuff. It would be great to get some evidence and Physics into it. When charging batteries, the current flowing into the battery to charge it depends upon a number of things, a) the charging voltage - if the generator is not able to generate enough voltage to drive current through a discharged battery, no current will flow. b) the current capacity of the charging generator - if it can't supply more than say 5 amps, that's all that can be supplied to the battery. c) the state of discharge of the battery - a fully discharged battery will charge at a higher rate initially, drawing less current as it nears fully charged. However (and it's a big one) a lot depends upon the battery technology (lead acid, Li ion etc) and the degree of sophistication of the charging controller. Some old lead acid type (car battery) chargers just smacked out 15 volts @ 3 A and if you have a fully discharged 60AH battery, that would take approximately 60 / 3 = 20 hours to charge. In my observatory which is powered by a 12V 100AH lead acid battery, my MPPT contoller and solar panels struggle to keep it charged between november and february (51.5 Lat) so I'm thinking to get a wind turbine to supplement the charging, but to get anything more than an amp with a small scale wt is quite hard and charging a 100AH battery @ 1A takes 100Hours of daylight - about 15 days in winter ! Nothing is easy in off grid world....

[@Mk101T]

The mention in the video was the first time I heard you need to consider overcoming the resistance of the battery bank to get some useful charging . I'm not really that well versed in electricity ... but the first thing that popped into my mind was using capacitors collecting the lower amperage , then discharging that to charge the battery bank , err a system utilizing smaller batteries with capacitors ... IDK . Am I way off base with that being possible ... or is it simply to cost prohibitive ? You seemed well versed in the subject , so thought I would ask you .

[@johnwyman6126]

Wow, only one amp from your panels? They're not from harbor freight, are they? Actually, this sounds like a great place for a wind generator since at 51.5° latitude you probably have a harsh winter where the trees lose their leaves and the wind can come ripping through. Especially at night. If not, do you have a nearby stream??

[@donwyates]

Just saw an interesting design in my news feed - the Archimedes. From their site: The AWM shows to be highly efficient (about 35% of all kinetic energy in the air), is very silent (below 45 dBa), is bird and bat friendly and has a beautiful design suitable for urban and rural areas. The AWM comes in two sizes: The 1.5 meter diameter with a rated power of 700 Wh and a maximum of 1 Kwh and the 0.75 meter diameter with a rated power of 125 Wh and a maximum of 150 Wh.

[@SwichMad]

Went the rabbit hole of finding the best blade design and improvements for a HAWT and found through a lot of reading that DU 06-W-200 is the best airfoil with winglets similar to airplane wing tips bent towards the center of the turbine. Quick calculations on how much will it cost to design and build one using carbon fibre filament or carbon fibre sheets and epoxy yielded a total cost of around 1500 to 1700 for a 700w wind turbine including charger, inverter etc. Mean output over the course of a year - 100w/h, ROI - 7 years, not considering maintenance. This is for a turbine designed to pull the most out of the wind available ( mean 5-6m/s for the whole year ) with good quality bearings, generator and very low rotor mass, those Chinese turbines are just slapped together hoping for the best. I'll go solar, wind is too much of a headache!

[@veggitarianredneck]

I've actually built a number of turbines ranging from small to big. The axial flux builds are prolly the best bang for the buck and are surprisingly efficient even with hand carved wooden blades.

[@doleo_metal]

I haven't gotten very far with my research. But I'm looking at wind as a supplement to solar.

[@ellisanderson842]

VAWTS do make sense in some situations - Wind speed is plentiful where i live but everything over 3m requires planning permissions. VAWTS can be placed at head height.

[@richardland9668]

I don’t know how involved you are in micro wind generation.. I’ve been involved in the design of wind generators for about 25 years and there are significant advantages to vertical action, wind generators. The first being noise and the second being very often in built-up areas. It’s very difficult to put in a horizontal wind turbine because of disturbing your neighbours. In fact, there are strict planning guidelines on locating wind generators, certainly in the UK. Horizontal wind. Turbines are really only functional up to about 1.5 kW above that you need to get into cleaner air. But if you want an example, that’s a brilliant video of an Atlantic Lighthouse which is being powered by vertical action, wind turbine not only does it charge the batteries for a lighthouse. It also copes with being hit by the spray from waves.

[@roughout]

The future is VAWT, organized like a row of trees. Maintenance mostly at ground level. These that you are recommending, I have watched for many years, all of them are parked. They are a maintenance nightmare.

[@thomasdanielmincarelli4590]

My PIKA 1,500 watt 380 VDC generator just stopped turning after 7 years. Can’t find parts but this has been the best machine I’ve ever owned in over 40 years.😂

[@veggitarianredneck]

Good news, you still have the tower to place the new one on.

[@roderickneely7039]

They’re sexy in the design, which like you said should clue us in to it being junk! Excellent video!

[@appallokelley3207]

I keep coming back to biogas as what I want to invest in . I’m glad I saw this video.

[@rsluggy6485]

I think the draw, for me anyway, for vertical generators is that mechanically they are simpler. They don't need to point any specific direction, they dont need the commutation required to steer a horizontal generator, etc. However, it's obvious that horizontal generators have had MUCH more R&D and even though they are more complex, they seem to be the better choice.

[@rayhill1855]

I'm looking into adding wind generation to my 100% off grid system. Currently I have 2 - 12,000 watt EG4 inverters (24,000 watt total output). 12 - 48 volt lithium 100ah batteries (61,44 KWH total), 72- 460watt to 575 watt bifacial solar panels (33,120 watt to 41,400 watt total). I live in So Ca in Valley Center and have a nice early morning and evening breeze daily and would like to produce power to help my battery banks maintain charge. I find your videos very informing.

[@asousaneto]

I'm Brazilian and solar panels are very common here, but I'm moving to Ireland and started studying about energy sources there. I don't understand why there aren't these little wind generators there. Everyone complains of too much wind and problems with heating. For me it is simple to think that this type of generator can be a complement, where instead of spending money on batteries, they could just power a resistor or even a more efficient heat exchanger, and accumulate energy in larger boilers with slightly higher temperatures. The cost of heating is most of the demand, and you can use this throughout the day, as well as accumulating heat in the boilers. In my opinion it seems to be simple. But I don't even know the country yet, So anyone who can argue with that Idea, I would be very grateful.

[@veggitarianredneck]

I think you have the right idea. I use solar myself to directly heat my house. If the su. Is shining its works good. I don't see why wind couldn't be used similarly.

[@asousaneto]

Where do you write from? I believe that the amount of sunlight in Ireland is very small when compared to Brazil, for example. I don't know if photovoltaic panels are financially smart, or just a desire for a better world. In Brazil, it is even more common Panels where only water circulates in black tubes, insulated by glass. I don't think it exists in cold countries, since at lower temperatures the water breaks the cylinders. But I also believe that a closed circuit can be made, using oil only instead of water. Passing the oil through a heat exchanger, which on the other side circulates hot water. Heat exchanger is always more efficient. And there are 12/24v DC heat troubadours, Dispensing with the use of inversions in offgrid circuits. I believe that heating in Ireland can be better utilized. Second semester I'll be there and try to study better ways.

[@madpete6438]

Engineering with Rosie - she get down to the equations (at times) and explains the dynamics of wind turbines. Well worth it if you want to understand the actual engineering (rather than "how good they look") Every objective test shows that the cheap vertical turbines produce almost no useful power. Suggest people put some sort of wind monitor at the location of their proposed turbine - and leave it for a year, at least. Nice informative video - thanks.

[@dominicmogridge3920]

hello my friend.thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.you've possibly saved me wasting money on something unsuitable.I am very minimalist and am just keeping two of the decor solar battery banks,which are performing well,running off two 90w panels.I'm 650 ft up a mountain so most days we have a good stuff breeze.my finances are limited,so I will do some more research into points you've raised.I'm buying six 8yr old 100w panels.from my research I think they will still produce around 80% output,but I can get them for 50euros per unit,so I will get those,and have checked output on them in various levels of sunshine.so thanks again for sharing you're thoughts.subscribed to your channel,as you seem an honest man,and doing your best to assess the suitability of what I will purchase.stay safe and lucky and may you and yours be blessed with health and happiness.with sincerity and respect.maddog.off grid,and I run a small animal rescue centre.I play piano accordion,so between the tree surgery and busking in the street I manage to scrape by,depending on how many animals I'm looking after to rehome.onward and upwards.love and light.maddog

[@allanpatterson7653]

I have built a few wind generator little power plants. The wind generators I have seen advertised have very generous ratings quite unbelievable generally by a factor of 100 times. 746 watts is One horsepower. One horsepower is defined as 550 pounds being lifted one foot in one second. The little toys I have seen have no hope of 1,000 watts output.

[@jimthomas777]

I'm building my own , It's a 55 gallon tank cut into 5 sections , I also built my own P.M.A. , It makes 1200 to 1800 watts depending on how fast it spins , My Montana Friend , V.A.W.T.

[@veggitarianredneck]

Well now that you have me intensely interested in what you are doing, please, please send some pictures of the final product. If it does well for you I will gladly retract my statements regarding VAWTs, and I will include your example in a video. I had a neighbor of mine building one just like your describing but he moved out before finishing it and I didn't get to see it.

[@jimthomas777]

@@veggitarianredneck , you have a EMAIL address ?

[@veggitarianredneck]

@@jimthomas777 [e-mail]

[@smr-goll3877]

Can i get the Photo too?

[@Xx-xd3zo]

Video!

[@asificam1]

Just to note, batteries don't have the kind of resistance you say. They have internal resistance, this is why they can get warm when charging and discharging, but as the size of the battery goes up, the current required to notice the resistance drops (assuming parallel, series is different calculation but same idea, more watts needed to see effects of resistance). The resistance batteries have is like putting a resistor or old light-bulb in series with each cell, the higher the charge or discharge current, the more the resistance is noticed and the more waste heat you generate from it. However, batteries have a self discharge and the charge controllers may not actually let trickle charge currents enter the battery bank to begin with. So in that case, the turbine does charge your battery bank, just not as fast as the cells are self discharging, however, they would self discharge slower since some of the lost power is being replaced by the wind turbine. Generally any time current flows into the cells, they charge, even a little, and when current flows the normal direction, they discharge, at least a little. So the size of the battery is not a concern, the battery is charging, just too slowly to be measured... and the bigger the battery, often the higher the parasitic self-discharge current since the self discharge is a few % per unit time, that percentage of a small bank is an average of a few milliamp, but a bigger battery bank has the same percentage rate per month that it loses which is like losing say 1 amp constant... the actual numbers depend on battery chemistry, design, age, damage, temperature, state of charge (sometimes), any leakage through chargers that are idle or powered down (MOSFETS are not quite perfectly off when off), etc. So in your example, the turbine basically just slowed the discharge of the cells because it generated less than they lose sitting idle anyhow. It did not fail to charge, it was just that the parasitic loads consumed all the turbine's energy and then some, so the turbine just made is to less of the battery energy was lost since it made up some of the difference. Good analogy is with water tanks, batteries are like tanks with a leak, some faster and some slower, the more tanks the bigger the battery bank and the more water is lost. Even a tiny trickle of water WILL raise the level in the tanks... but not as fast as the water is leaving... so the effect is that the net loss is lower. Like the turbine, it would be charging the batteries, just not very fast, so slowly that the battery is still losing power to self-discharge (like a leak), say you are losing an average of 2 amps and the turbine puts out an average of 1 amp, the turbine DOES charge the batteries, but its too slow to be making headway, so what it's doing is effectively slowing down the discharge of the battery by making up on average half of the lost energy. In this hypothetical, 2 of them would maintain that battery and charge it as fast as it tries to discharge itself. Basically charging and discharging are opposite chemical reactions. One turns the battery into lead, lead oxide, and acid, while consuming electricity, the other generates electricity while turning the battery into lead sulfate, lead sulfate (2 plates, both lead sulfate), and water... assuming lead acid, NiMH and Lithium ion variants are different, more complex reactions, but same idea. Lead acid cells will spontaneously convert back to discharged state (think of it like if there was a tiny LED connected to the cell at all times, or as if electricity flows slowly back though the acid). So if you put in enough energy to react 1 gram of battery and make it into acid and lead, ready to rock, but in that time the battery concerted 2 grams back into lead sulfate and water, you still lose 1 gram since 2-1=1, but you DID charge 1 gram of material, its just that a phantom load that you cannot see or remove that is part of the cells themselves has drained more than you put in. But the turbine or slow charger did help you, see if you had not had them hooked up, you would STILL lose 2 grams of battery, but not have recouped 1 gram, so you would lose 2 grams because 2-0=2 Oversimplification but that is how things work.

[@andyspark5192]

From whole incoming wind flow the HAWT uses at most 15%, the rest just pass thru it. The VAWT could use 50% but the other 50 turn into a drag. With various weird blade shapes the "engineers" try to counter that. The only VAWTs that work at best are with wind deflectors. No drag and the output is even maximized. You could even put solar on top of it.

[@DM-kl4em]

The VAWT has the advantage of being aesthetically less obtrusive. You can stick the blades up in the air on a shaft, then the shaft turns the gears at the base to spin your generator. You can make it barely noticeable to the HOA Nazis and tattle-tale neighbors, while a HAWT is sure to attract unwanted attention. I am working my way toward COOHMP, but I gotta do what I gotta do for now. An alternative is to turn the wind direction vertical with a Darwin wind turbine. A HAWT can then be mounted at the top to spin from the air going upward. The whole thing can be disguised as a storage shed, with the louvre panels made to look like vinyl siding, and no one has to see the turbine that is spinning in the roof.

[@rogerphelps9939]

The disadvantages greatly outweigh the advantages. They need a lot more hardware than HAWTs and, since they are not supported at the top, there is a huge bending moment which has to be resisted.

[@jonel5001]

Most important thing is height. You need to get wind generator up, over tree tops.Some cases roof top is enough. But put it in garden with 2 meter pole is just eye candy.

[@louisfox2944]

Great video so glad I came across it, confirmed my suspicion of the claims of a lot of the products advertised on various sites. Ha 8kw for about £260, like the old adage, if it sounds to good to be true it normally is, but thanks I can now focus on making the right choices.

[@donaldkasper8346]

What is alluring about vertical wind generators? Overall, they don't have huge blades forward on an armature subject to great stress and blow up. Vertically, they are much more stable and should last much longer.

[@davidhowardfsusanville]

I bought a vertical wind generator and it doesn’t generate shit! I won’t waste my time again. It was one like you have on your clip. Does a great job of helping people find my house because it is unusual. Other than that it serves no purpose.

[@veggitarianredneck]

Yeah unfortunately most of these are just gimmicks

[@johnq8792]

I also started with the air-x modified it to a 6 blade and removed the internal electronics, gave me about 400w output in 30 mph winds

[@broughxtreme]

I have read a lot of comments but nobody has mensioned this. That with a vertical turbine the blades have to turn back (and fight) against the wind that is driving it in the first place. Yes the back of the blades are more aerodynamic/curved but there is still going to be a loss going back into the wind.

[@veggitarianredneck]

Yes, and I mention this in other videos.

[@keithrosenberg5486]

A couple of houses down they have three standard wind turbines on masts (similar to the marine one you showed). Two are broken and the third may be. Maintenance is an issue no matter what type.

[@veggitarianredneck]

Very true, I've seen similar where I live. People definitely neglect basic maintenance.

[@sqweezjy]

Lucky you. I can’t wait till my Nieghbor’s 15KW HAWT breaks down Way too noisy. Doesn’t belong in a residential area

[@loadmastergod1961]

If you integrate the power curves, you'll find that a quality vawt will outproduce a hawt if your typical wind speed isn't near the peak power output for the hawt. If you have high, consistent wind hawts are tge way to go. As a bat lover, vawts are bird and bat friendly

[@ericasentire8809]

Such good news you have, good to know, because mine turbine will make me wealthy.

[@ofcv1238]

Ha ha - you delivered on your promise…except I didn’t follow your directions. Already bought 3 blade horizontal Pensacola or whatever it is called (400W 13 m/s rating). I am worried about taking out neighbor or neighbor’s house with my fiberglass flagpole. Waiting to put up with 4 paracord anchors 10 feet below top unit reinforced with 2”PVC (stuffed with foam snug against pole) inside 4” PVC for 6’ mount housing on flagpole. I fear pole break so extending the load on the flagpole (or mount connection in super reinforced PVC end cap backed by extra layer of PVC set with construction adhesive). I never wrote this note if anything bad happens. It goes up tomorrow.

[@jeancpt]

The reason for Horizontal wind generators is nor because they are more efficient. They are not. I live on the high Veld in South Africa, we have great wind here over August/September. The problem is that the direction of the wind is not constant. Everytime a VWG changes direction it loses it's centrifugal momentum and starts all over again. Those huge wind generators are placed where there is wind from a constant direction, mostly close to large bodies of water. But here, my best option is a vertical wind turbine.

[@johnh9748]

Another thing to consider...At 30 kWh/month these "wind jammers" are creating about $2.40 worth of electricity per month. That means they will take 500 months just to pay themselves off IF they run full tilt continuously. That is over 40 YEARS to get an ROI.

[@veggitarianredneck]

Good point

[@ShanePhillips-mv7bi]

Plus will run battery flat in week with no wind

[@johnpapa8681]

Good video. Thank you for staying on the subject. Some yt videos are unwatchable because they beat around the bush or talk about stuff unrelated to the subject in the click bait. I'm not a patient man when it come to getting information, but I had no trouble watching your video at all. Thanks.

[@veracity91]

They work at night when wind is at its peak and the sun is down so you cant get a solar charge... also in Canada winter days there are low sun days and high wind days... Saskatchewan is the wind capitol. wind turbines are fine if your int he right climate.

[@LampWaters]

Interested in wind generator but also considering something for well pump either generator or one thst uses wind to manually pump ... but issues would be winter us when its needed. On grid for electricity but want to be more off grid and lose power 3 weeks a year or more

[@joshuaknight1748]

I think the issue with drag-type VAWT like a Savonius is they cant generate velocity higher than the wind speed. I'd give them a wide berth from a capacity factor.

[@lsellclumanetsolarenergyll5071]

Verticals are 2 main reason why they are so good : 1 they max speed they can handle without spinning out of control and 2 space is also excellent when you want to put them next to each other. So I recommend 2 vertical should be combined to 1 motor because now those 2 power with a gear system the motor with even higher speed. You can combine 2-3 mid size and even at low speed now you getting solid energy produced. Key point for all wind turbines/generators is the the motor is a BRAND product. DO NOT go cheap.

[@mgfofoklahoma4018]

The Archimedes Liam F1 Urban Wind Turbine???? Have you looked at this one? Or The Icewind made in Iceland. I live outside of Tulsa, OK in one of the most constant wind locations. Love to do a joint product reviews with you.

[@iftikhkhan253]

We don't have 45 degree roof in our country. The solar panels occupy whole roof which we can't use in summer to sleep in fresh air. I think wind turbine generator is better solution to get 24 hours eclectic. It is cheap than solar panels. What do you think about it??

[@SoundShining]

Hi, thank you for the great feedback. Have you heard about Liam f1 wind turbine? What's your take on them?

[@kennethrodrigues3750]

I am interested in these iSTA -BREEZE on GRID , All configuration and Control boxes , MMPT cope with variable speed winds and over voltage protection , Bridge Rectifier … 3 x cost of US $480 = $1440 !

[@tfit402]

My preference is a vertical wind turbine that I make myself. Among other advantages, if something goes wr ong with it I can fix it because I made it in the first place and know exactly how to do so, and where to get the part(s) needed, and what tools to use. If I can make something I do not like to buy it.

[@veggitarianredneck]

Same here bro

[@howardsimpson489]

If you want output at low speed, look at the New Zealand F&P smartdrive brushless motor, it is just a large permanent magnet alternator. Unaltered they develop up to 500 volts at 1000 rpm,three phase rectified. Then use an ex AT computer power supply or commonplace SMPS battery charger for a regulated low voltage output. We lived off grid for 10 years with these plus some solar. The now plentiful dead scooter motors also make good alternators, just lower voltage and awkward to re-engineer.

[@christinemurray1444]

The problem with VAWTs is that in the very concrete situations where they make sense (turbulence, can't lift it a lot, migratory bird pathway, etc) most of the time you'd really have to consider if wind power makes sense for you at all. And then again it's just some very specific ones that make sense. For the vast majority of people, a proper three blade design is the way to go.

[@harleyme3163]

how do you get lift from a wing thats vertical? in fact, no, they dont lift at all.

[@christinemurray1444]

@@harleyme3163 I mean that you can't lift it a lot, the system itself. In such cases the three blade design edge can lessen as they are much more sensitive to turbulence.

[@quellenathanar]

Have you tried using several smaller units? It would solve the problem of getting virtually no production below 15 mph wind. Obviously, you then have to deal with multiple systems. Just curious.

[@Zo-hc2fn]

I am considering a vertical axis wind turbine that looks exactly like a tree, I call it : e-tree, the bottom is brown like a trunk, the spinning blades are green like leaves, on the trunk of the e-tree, there are features of : mobile network, light and power outlet, to charge a car for example

[@antonbrum5492]

Charging batteries is all about configuration and voltage. Batteries that are in a series configuration increases output voltage but has lower current capacity, the same batteries configured in a parallel arrangement have a lower voltage but higher current capacity eg; 4 x 12Vdc x 200 Ah batteries configured in a series arrangement will be 48Vdc x 200 Ah, parallel configuration will be 12Vdc x 800 Ah. Wattage = E x I= W. You simply divide the voltage into wattage ie; 120 watts divided by 12 volts = 10 amps. So, when buying a wind turbine VAWT or HAWT the output rating maybe 12volts dc @ 600 watt output = 50 amps. It is important that you should consider purchasing a wind turbine with a much higher output voltage ie; 24vdc or 48vdc, the turbine will operate more efficiently simply because it requires less torque to turn the generator and output current is a lot lower and your battery rate of discharge (load discharge) is much lower. A typical 60 watt load @ 12volt uses 5 amps, 60 watt load @ 24 volt uses 2.5 amps.

[@roscoepatternworks3471]

You need to look at county regulations. Where I'm located max height of any structure is 32 feet. No obstacles to block the wind. Modeled 2 vertical axis turbines, both work. One uses a modified airfoil, and the other is the cut pvc pipe with some slight modifications. Both are self starting, which I've heard is a problem for some vertical axis turbines. I 3d printed the airfoil turbine, which blew itself apart at 35mph winds. Not bad for a 3d printed model.

[@stephencarlsbad]

The design look of the vertical wind generator makes its capability appear counterintuitive and so people attach status to anything that makes them appear smarter than traditional methods.

[@mrmatthewpaul]

The vertical windmills are liked because it looks good. It like looking at a tree.

[@TheGalifrey]

I have been looking and an Istabreeze 2000w system with the "windsafe" hub. Your video has made me decide this is the right system, especially as the windsafe hub saves the system in high winds! (we had 200kmh gusts here in France last month).

[@trazyntheinfinite9895]

The inscrutable, vertical spinny thingy is a staple for a "sci fi future" skyline. Thats why.

[@CountDankula0]

Very informative thanks for the video

[@zazugee]

the problem is that most people don't do any wind frequency measurements and expect that wind turbines will work or be economical but mostly not in most cases. even if you think your place is windy it's worthwhile to do a preliminary measurements using local weather data in tandem with an anemometer that's if the goal is producing energy and not just to try your hands on a small wind turbine to play with

[@PharaohMoan]

Rad video man. Thinking of putting a wind generator up for winter just to run heat and wasn't really sure what all to consider. This video saved me from a lot of bullshit I'm sure. Thank you.

[@bluemartin]

How did your project go? I'm considering something similar.

[@PharaohMoan]

@@bluemartin It didn't. It would have taken years for it to pay for itself, because if I remember right, the output is pretty proportional to the cost. So since I rent, wasn't worth it to me to save for 4 months out of the year. Might revisit when I have a more permanent residence. Good luck though!

[@jasonvichinsky1458]

I am curious about your thoughts on heat battery storage for home use?

[@elikarkanane9643]

Very constructive; many thanks

[@mr.monitor.]

In my mind, a small hawt generator would be useful to make up for losses in the inverter/batteries. A 500-watt model will yield 50 watts on average, which is close to the standby average with the inverter on and heated batteries.

[@amerrill1988]

I routinely get sustained 20-30mph winds being right on the water of the Chesapeake bay. I was considering a Vertical axis because I thought it might be less likely to kill birds. I have lots of Bald Eagles and Osprey flying low hitting the water fishing so I'd hate to take them out with the horizontal blades. Any experience with this?

[@veggitarianredneck]

I'm not really a fan of the vortical as you might have figured. My personal experience with HAWTs, and I've 5 of them is that I've never killed a single bird with them in 12 years. While it's true that the virtical generators are lower to the ground thus less likely to interfere with birds. I also think that the small home style HAWTs tend to prolly frighten the birds away due to the noise they generate. IMO there would be issues with a small residential HAWT with birds, and you would be much happier with the results.

[@lesliehunter1823]

Anybody know which of these could function in frequent 100mph wind and extreme cold?

[@waynemiller8617]

Good info. So is there any wind turbines that would work on a home in a residential area. Manly for extra energy to get at night while sleeping to cut electric bill down. Already have solar panels.

[@veggitarianredneck]

That one is tricky, but if you have the room and the city allows it then there are plenty out there that would do the trick. Remember the key is to get it high up into the air stream.

[@ClassicGreenery]

Hi! Great video, thank you. I'm currently working on getting power on an off grid farm in Iceland. Would you be able to link the websites that you recommend using for buying these generators? Cheers!

[@BeachBum51050]

just a suggestion, but please do an analysis on wind generators that seem to have promise like the Liam F1 and Ducted-Fan turbines.

[@BrianMcGuinness-vb1np]

Have you reviewed any smaller ones that go on to a house /building? You mention you have a large battery system…. What size is it and what do you call a small battery bank please?

[@dominicmogridge3920]

meant vevor solar battery banks,running off two 90w panels made by bresser.I m very satisfied with their output,even on quite dark and cloudy days,they are still keeping the banks topped up

[@veggitarianredneck]

Solar is always the best bang for the buck

[@nzs316]

Here’s a thought you could install a horizontal generator at the highest point of a roof. In the same way that you would have a vent for the roof and the vents that are along the soffit will let air in and out to the very peak of the roof. So through convection you’re always guaranteed a certain amount of movement or rotation. I had installed a linear rim vent along the peak of a roof for a house I built. It is the maximum efficiency for letting air ventilation through. Why not capitalize on it.

[@Natedoc808]

You could easily retrofit a whisper cool (rotary roof vent) to funnel the air into a vawt, but there isn’t much force behind convection only

[@nzs316]

@@Natedoc808 Although it doesn’t only work with convention. Even a small breeze will spin it and draw air.

[@Natedoc808]

@@nzs316 wouldn’t you need to have blades pitched in the opposite direction to capture flow from an external breeze as you would the internal convection driven breeze? Or would need adjustable pitch to utilize whichever was stronger.

[@karlwagner4418]

Im interested in the horizontal "ridge blade" turbines for rooftops. Let me know what you think for northern wisconsin.

[@zmaint]

What would you recommend for a 48v system with 600ah lithium batteries? I'm just looking to add some extra to offset dark stormy days. When the weather is dark here, we have excellent wind. Thanks!

[@samdub]

All points very well explained! Thank you.

[@sarhanshumrani7727]

Great video. Keep on. I have solar system and I would to add wind turbine. Will that possible and how. I woud appreciate if you can provide me with diagram how that is done. Thanks again for your informative videos